CONSERVATIVES IN THE CLOSET – The LA Times reports on the precarious existence of a perennially endangered specie living in one of the world’s most hostile ecosystems: Hollywood conservatives.

“In the ’90s, it was never really an issue that I had to hide. I was always forthright,” recalled producer [Gerald Molen], whose credits include “Schindler’s List” and two “Jurassic Park” movies. “It used to be we could have a conversation with two opposing points of view and it would be amiable. At the end, we still walked away and had lunch together.”

Those days are largely gone, he said. “The acrimony — it’s there. It’s front and center.”

By a strange coincidence, the acrimony gets cyclically worse at the same time the media re-discover their mission is to hold those in power accountable. What could possibly account for such correlation? “For Hollywood conservatives, a Republican in the White House doesn’t necessarily herald a golden age of acceptance. In fact, ‘it’s usually the opposite,’ said Lionel Chetwynd, the screenwriter and co-founder of Friends of Abe. He said industry liberals doubled down on their resentment toward conservatives during the Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush years.” And with the advent of Trump it’s even worse, because he is much more of a polarising figure than his Republican predecessors, including amongst the Hollywood conservatives themselves.

Some believe that deep down, corporate Hollywood is politically agnostic and that profits supersede partisanship.

“Where is this liberal Hollywood agenda? The agenda seems to be whatever will entertain mass audiences,” said screenwriter Craig Mazin, who has voted Democrat and Republican and now describes himself as a moderate. “How could an industry have been successful this long if it was alienating half the country?”